Closing stages of Dublin murder trial reached

The jury at the trial of a Dublin man accused of murder has been listening to closing speeches from the prosecution and the defence.

Brian Rattigan (aged 28), Cooley Rd, Drimnagh, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Declan Gavin (aged 21), Mourne Rd, Drimnagh, at Crumlin Rd, Crumlin on August 25, 2001.

It is the prosecution’s case that Mr Rattigan got out of a Nissan Micra that had pulled up outside the Abrakebabra fast-food outlet at Crumlin Shopping Centre before he stabbed Mr Gavin in a “targeted attack.”

Ms Pauline Walley SC, prosecuting, told the jury that “the knife man was Mr Rattigan for very simple reasons.”

“You can be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt because his marks were found on the window beside the door. The marks were found in places central to the movement of the injured man, bleeding, trying to get in the door of Abrakebabra.”

Ms Walley said that Mr Rattigan was interviewed by gardaí 11 days after the alleged murder and told them that he had not been to Abrakebabra in four months.

“You know that that is a huge and whopping great lie because nine days before the alleged murder the glass of the window was changed.

“If Mr Rattigan was telling the truth and was not there for four months how could his palm mark be there on the window?”

Ms Walley told the jury that the mark was found four inches above an area from which a swab of blood was taken, which was later matched to Mr Gavin.

“Although the swab was taken below the mark you can infer the blood at the mark was Mr Gavin’s,” she said.

Mr Brendan Grehan SC, defending, told the jury that “the most striking thing about this case... is the lack of evidence.”

“Ms Walley omits the fact that seventeen other prints were found there, never identified.

“When you look at the evidence in this case, be very sceptical of what has been served up to you.”

Last week, Mr Grehan told the jury that Mr Rattigan is currently serving cumulative sentences of thirteen years.

Today he said that one of the reasons he felt it was necessary the jury should know this is because Mr Rattigan has been “surrounded by three burly prison officers” during the trial.

He told the jury that this must have “struck” them.

Mr Grehan said that Mr Rattigan “has been available for charge since February 2003 but here you are told by Ms Walley that they have an open-shut case with the benefit of forensic science.”

Mr Grehan also said that the memos of interviews display “a total lack of co-operation or respect for the gardai” from Mr Rattigan.

“Mr Rattigan is no angel. I don’t pretend he is. Nor does he.”

Mr Grehan said that “key evidence the prosecution sought to rely on simply collapsed in on itself – the suggestion that the swab of blood taken from the print at the scene matched to Mr Rattigan and the blood DNA-matched to Mr Gavin.

“The swab didn’t come from the mark at all. It was taken from somewhere below the mark.”

The prosecution “cannot prove it is blood,” he said.

“This is not evidence on which you can be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt.

“The prosecution is serving up what it must now accept is a print which is Mr Rattigan’s but is not directly connected with Mr Gavin. The have failed to forensically link it to Mr Gavin.”

The jury is expected to retire tomorrow afternoon after being charged by Mr Justice Barry White.